Contractor Hiring & Contract Tips

Welcome Home! Everyone should feel safe and welcome in their house. Your domicile should be your oasis where you can enjoy the beauty and unwind. Whether it’s just you, a couple or a big family, the home environment affects you even when you are not there. Things which need doing or knowing you are returning to a cluttered space or one that doesn’t suit you, has deep psychic effects. People do run the gammut as to what they value. My brother, for example, only truly cared that a place was neat enough to get around, clean enough not to get sick and that the roof didn’t leak. He was the least materialistic individual I ever knew. His sister, however, is very materialistic as well as spiritually minded. I love my creature comforts. Great Architecture is art. And if you’ve read so far, then I make the assumption it is for you too. It matters not whether it is a sprawling manse or a little jewel box, any home can be stunning. We go around once, so we may as well enjoy, right?

After a recent remodel I felt the need to put this together to help others. I have been through numerous handymen, contractors, repairs and remodels, between rental property and our homes and hope that my story and information herein helps you. Feel free to kindly comment and share out because we are all in this together. 🙂

My day job is a project manager and documentation specialist. I have seen various forms of proposals and contracts from contractors and handymen but I have found them to be far from encompassing. There can be a lot of wiggle room about what a word or sentence means and things as simple and obvious as ‘Make the patio level’ left out can mean, as it did with one of my contractors, that its ok to slope a patio where my SPA was to go.

Many times we simply assume that what is obvious will take place or when we are discussing an 80″ half wall between two rooms, and we see verbiage in the contract about that wall, that we are good. But we can be wrong there. So create your own contracts and have anybody you hire sign them. Don’t be afraid to spell every detail out. If you are talking of a half wall, explain in great detail exactly where it is and what will take place. Even though heads are nodding in agreement, once you hand over the cash, an egregious individual, or perhaps someone exceedingly forgetful or cash-strapped, can begin taking advantage of you.

Not everybody who works for themselves does it well. In fact, a lot of folks who work for themselves do so because nobody else would hire them or retain them very long. Reasons can run from being surly and not playing well with others, not take direction well, not being emotionally stable, not being fully transparent in their pricing or scope of work, failing on showing up to work timely to training issues, doing a sub-par job or having a criminal or sexual deviation on their record. Your contractor could be a registered sex offender and yes I have encountered that one personally.

Remodelling is always stressful as much as it is exciting looking forward to the transformation. I try to buoy myself by remaining focused on the happy outcome but still, you are perhaps losing a driveway, lawn, kitchen, bedroom, foyer, a bathroom or even an entire house while the work goes on. Your contractor should be sensitive to this. The stress can be far worse when trying someone new. Even if they are really smashing, there’s the business of building the relationship, learning to understand each other and figuring out if you can work well together or ever work again on another project. This is your home and it is not about giving entitlements to your contractor when it comes down to the respect of your time, your home or the scope of work. You want someone you can have a good working relationship with. Be careful of the goal being to get all the work done by the person giving you the cheapest quote. Interview at least 3 people before deciding. The goal is getting the job done the best and the swiftest by someone that can manage the work well and get along with you, making the experience the least stressful as feasible. Every contractor you hire owes you this.

I am currently in contractor hell. The man has a good crew, nice, personable, work well together but I was promised the crew would work full days, starting at 8:30 am, Monday through Friday. In 3 weeks time, the crew logged less than 38 hours including trips to the dump. The entire project, which is gutting one bathroom, rebuilding the closet, vaulting the ceiling, creating a half wall between the master bath and bedroom and a much simpler new toilet, counter, sink, faucet and wall sconces for the 2nd bath were all targeted to be completed within 4 weeks. He was so snippy, slow and callous, I ended up firing him. Upset when I documented our conversations, blatantly shouting ‘I will NOT be managed’ when I voiced concerns we were way behind because his folks weren’t putting in full work days. This was the first contractor I have ever fired in over 300k worth of remodelling I have done so far! I wear the same tiny rotation of clothes, cannot find a bleeding thing, clothes and other personal items are packed in boxes piled in our den as I waited.,…and waited…while his people worked 2 or 3 hours here, 4 hours there, or just didn’t show up at all. This individual was too busy chasing money, taking my money and working other jobs.

In hindsight, I should have asked for my deposit back and sent them packing on day one. But he came highly recommended and I thought well, he’s just wrapping up a job so then I will have his full attention. But when he went off the rails 3 times, lied about what was in writing in the contract, then expected me to pay again for what I had already paid for, I knew I had to let him go.

After going off on me (in writing) 3 times the man still had this job. I just needed him to wrap these bathroom projects up and get out of our lives. As a friend put it I was in ‘Salvage Mode’ where I had paid the man, didn’t feel like taking him to court, didn’t want to delay the work, didn’t want to delay the project and add any costs in hiring somebody new, I just bloody well wanted it done and him gone. But when he cancelled our work on Monday because he couldn’t pay the terrazzo guy doing our floor after I had already paid him for that, then brought him over on Tuesday, got him started on the work before telling us we needed to pay the floor guy directly, and would not back down on this demand when I reminded him his final payment is due upon completion of all remaining work, that was it for me. I am a professional and I expect that from the people I hire.

The contractor I hired prior poured a patio for dining, entertaining and to hold a SPA. It was a $2500.00 job. He sloped it so that the entire patio is on a V slope with a hump in the middle, preventing me from putting my spa on it. I asked for a big, level patio, even with the existing concrete path we had, showed him where the SPA would sit and the rest would be entertaining. Because the patio humps up in the middle, which would warp the frame of my SPA, I sit with the SPA just tucked under the eaves of the house not working. Ego. Ego and shortsightedness. This same man did the best job ever on our kitchen remodel, our atrium floor, landscaping work, roof, copper gutters and numerous jobs at our old home and rental. His ego prevented him from hearing me when I told him I wanted a level patio and suggested perhaps a french drain. He actually argued with me that the word ‘level’ wasn’t in our contract. This is why he didn’t get the bathroom remodels. His solution was to charge me for materials to fix what he did wrong the first time. I said no to that.

Shortsightedness or Job too small – Folks, some people are going to do a lot of remodelling in their life and others won’t. But contractors live and die by word of mouth. There is social media, Nextdoor app, Angie’s List and ways to spread the good news when someone is stellar and share the horror stories as well. Regardless of how small a job may be, it can lead to larger projects. I had a contractor hired when we first moved into our MCM home. I wanted the patio releveled, a new cabinet to house our new double oven and the kitchen countertops done. He ditched the job to take on ‘a larger project to make more money.’ Not only did I never hire him back again, but between the kitchen, patio and a surprise we need a brand new roof, we ended up topping out around 70k. We ended up doing cabinet refacing in the whole kitchen and this guy was just too shortsighted to see the big picture. So we ended up hiring the same contractor that did our roof, kitchen and patio for our Xeriscaping project the following year. Repeat business is great for the home owner and the contractor. It is far less stressful when you’ve located someone you can trust and work well with.

The problem with firing a contractor after work has begun is that nobody really wants to take that on. Even if the work was done right, as my new contractor believes the rough in plumbing was for my situation, you are probably going to be out even more money. (I will definitely be!) Because they didn’t get the entire job, they pad their quote to finish it all up. They may think you are a challenge to work with so they add money to compensate. Or they flat think you are now desperate. I was referred by a dear friend to this really nice young man who showed up all happy and fun, clearly knowing his business, but in reality, he was just a vulture seeing a way to bilk me for as much as possible. He wanted 20k to finish. Folks, my entire bathroom remodel, beginning to end, and quoted by 3 different contractors at the time, was only 15k for labor and materials. Because I was purchasing specialty items, I was getting the tub, toilet, vanity, sinks, lights and faucet fixtures directly. The 15k included the quartz countertops, mirrors, skylight and all other building materials to create new walls and closets. This chirpy cheerful dude that gleefully sent me a quote for 20k, did so after 8k of the work had already been accomplished. Inarguably the hardest part of the job, had already been completed. There was cutting into the concrete foundation, re-routing and laying new plumbing, (the rough in plumbing) new rebar and cement to cover these new trenches. Then terrazzo was poured in place, ground and polished. This was the really hard part already done! I have personally floated plaster before and while it is work, it sure beats grinding a floor! 20K was more than the original quote from 3 other contractors start to finish! With my new contractor, I am stuck paying another full months salary which I am nonplussed about. But I need the work done and he is a structural engineer and I feel confident he will do me right. And I can actually see his house from my house. I feel confident I have the right guy for the job.

So, with this latest experience inspiring me, here are some helpful tips for you to avoid my pitfalls and hopefully have a much smoother remodel experience.

First, there is lingo and just having a basic understanding of how construction works. While it’s not necessary, you will do yourself some good to speak the language and appear more knowledgeable and less gullible. Understanding & Negotiating Construction Contracts by Kit Werremeyer (click on the title to take a look at the book) is well written and will help you gain skills.

In addition to this book, here are my hard-won tips:

Of course, you will get references but do a background check before you hire. You want to have a scope of this persons integrity and character.

Record conversations. Ths may seem a bit paranoid but you would be surprised how much gets lost that you will now have a record of.

Get everything in writing; the time the crew will show up and how many folks are in the crew, what days they will work and how many weeks the job will require.

Have each page of the contract signed by both parties and adjust any wording that at the time may appear obvious but potentially mean something else, spell it out better.

I am very used to working with a contractor that takes just one job at a time and puts his full focus there. If you choose to work for someone who had multiple jobs running, know that you will be paying for this guy to run multiple crews. Also know that your work may get done slower. Outline and document what the expectations are for the daily/weekly work hours that will be done on your project. I personally will never hire anyone that works multiple jobs and crews again, what a nightmare!

Get some background and the names of the crew members. They will be in your home, you should feel comfortable with them being there.

Get the percentage of time the contractor will be there on site managing his crew in writing. Contractors typically take 15-20% of the job as their income. They are working for you.

The contact should contain contingencies for terminating the contract as well as what the ramifications and deductions may be for breaching the contract terms, such as when the timelines are not met or something agreed to doesn’t take place.

Folks love to tell themselves they work for themselves but they don’t. While you are paying them, you are their employer and they work, the duration of the project, for you. If something they are not doing is not working for you, speak up.

Bad Ethics don’t change. It doesn’t matter who recommended somebody. If they lie about showing up every day at 9am, what else will they be fabricating that you won’t find out about until later?

Love the Contractor and the crew. This is a package unit, and you need to respect from all parties. You will be dealing with the crew (hopefully) daily but you should also be dealing with the contractor several times a week as well. Nobody should be absentee here or not extend common courtesy.

IF you end up, as I did, having to fire someone, don’t get desperate. Create a list of all the work left to do. Ask neighbors, get out on Nextdoor.com, talk to people and come up with a plan. Start getting new quotes. For me, I explained the rough in plumbing had been done, the floor was installed and asked how much for all the rest, providing them the list. Don’t feel pressured or stuck. Breath. Get the right guy. Great luck!